U.S. closing the door on immigrants: new security measures prompted by fears of terrorism are pushing away immigrants and refugees.

• Author: Vilbig, Peter

In the surf off Miami, 200 Haitians, some in their finest clothes, leap from a grounded wooden ship, stagger to shore, and then scatter, some diving into the back of passing pickup trucks and others hiding in bushes, in a desperate bid to enter the United States, even illegally.

In the desert outside Red Rock, Arizona, gunfire erupts in the night. Police later find the bodies of two illegal immigrants from Mexico. Immigrant rights groups blame vigilantes for taking law enforcement into their own hands.

On a Sunday afternoon in Denison, Iowa, a worker opens a sealed freight car and finds the skeletons of 11 people who had allowed themselves to be locked inside an empty railcar to be smuggled into America. The sealed car went unopened for months; the immigrants perished from starvation, suffocation, or heat exhaustion.

These tense and deadly gambles, all in recent months, suggest how new laws and policies--aimed at catching terrorists before they strike--are tightening U.S. borders and perhaps pushing illegal immigrants to take increasing risks to start a new life in America. The government's heightened security efforts are increasing restrictions across the board on all noncitizens. And it is making life tougher for foreigners seeking to enter the U.S., legally or illegally.

RECORD IMMIGRATION

"There is now a tainting of all people who come to this country as suspected terrorists, says Angela M. Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro immigration group. "For immigrants, the welcome mat is really being ripped out from under them."

The change comes on the heels of the greatest influx in American history. From 1990 to 2001, more than 14 million immigrants came to the United States. If they all were assembled in one place, they would create the largest city in the U.S., almost twice the size of New York. Indeed, in 2000, foreign-born residents accounted for 10 percent of the total U.S. population.

Many were legal immigrants: people whose skills or family ties in the U.S. made them eligible for legal residence, or political refugees granted asylum because of repression in their home countries.

About one quarter, or 7 million, of the nation's 32 million foreign-born people are believed to be in the country illegally. In the past, authorities sometimes turned a blind eye at the urging of business groups and others who argued that immigrants play a vital role in the nation's economy, accepting low wages for a wide variety of jobs and services.

During the 1990s, half of new workers in the U.S. were immigrants, according to Northeastern University researchers. Among male workers, 8 in 10 were immigrants. The report suggests that, whatever their legal status, immigrant workers were critical to...